The Super Nintendo Entertainment System arrived in the US in the late summer of 1991, a time when Bryan Adams ruled the radio, and radio was still a thing one could rule. A mere 26 years later, Nintendo is reviving the system with a miniature Classic Edition, complete with 26 games—including a never-before-played Star Fox sequel.
The Super NES Classic Edition, available September 29 for $80, should stir ample feelings in the hearts and thumbs of a generation of console fans. The appeal lies not only in the games, but which games—a 16-bit bonanza of classics like Super Mario World, F-Zero, Super Metroid, Super Mario Kart, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Mega Man X, and more. Even Sega Genesis diehards would admit that it’s a pretty dominant lineup. All six of them.
The Super NES Classic also includes an X factor. Not only can you play Star Fox, but beat the first level and you get Star Fox 2 as well. The previously unreleased game was created during the original Super NES run, so unfortunately it doesn’t pick up with Fox McCloud and crew 26 years later, following their adventures ordering soup on an intergalactic retirement vessel.
In terms of bang for the buck, the set also includes long-playing, iconic RPG-style games, like Final Fantasy III and Secret of Mana. Other games, like Super Punch-Out!!, Contra III, and Super Castlevania IV serve as reminders of their better prequels. Street Fighter II will let you revisit years of Vega-induced aggravation. And Yoshi’s Island is just as weird and wonderful as you remember.
All of this assumes, of course, that you can get your hands on one. That’s no sure thing, given that Nintendo’s previous throwback, the NES Classic, proved nigh impossible to actually buy.
Nintendo did say in a statement that it plans to produce “significantly more units” of the Super NES Classic than it did its NES equivalent, though that still doesn’t guarantee broad availability. The unit will also only be on shelves through 2017, so don’t wait until New Year's to gift yourself one.
Between the early success of the Nintendo Switch console, the constant sellouts of the NES Classic, and boundary-pushing creativity in games like Arms, Nintendo’s having itself quite a renaissance. And with any luck, the joy of picking up a Super NES controller anew a full quarter-century after its original release should help you forget just how old that makes you feel.
